For the past four
weeks I (Lydia) have been in KwaZulu Natal, South Africa in the town of
Mpophomeni. Mpophomeni is a large sprawling township set in the midst of
beautiful hills. I joined five other girls: Corinne, Charlee, Naomi, Sadie and
Evelyn. We went with the organisation Tearfund who have sent many teams over
the years to Ethembeni.

Ethembeni is a HIV
and AIDs ministry which seeks to bring hope in the Name of Jesus to vulnerable
people in the community of Mpophomeni. The two main issues in Mpophomeni are
unemployment and HIV - around 80% of people are unemployed and over half are
HIV positive. Ethembeni works in both of these areas. Ethembeni has three main
areas of ministry: the family centre, which cares for 70 children and young
people, providing food, fun, spiritual and emotional care. The children who
come are all affected in some way by HIV so the family centre provides a safe
place of love and care. The care centre: which has four beds to care for
patients who are very sick. And home based care visits program: providing food
and spiritual and emotional assistance to families and individuals in their homes.
They also have a mobile HIV testing and counselling service which goes into
Mpophomeni. Ethembeni is helping to transform a community which is broken by
showing God’s love and being Jesus’ hands and feet in this area.

Our team spent the
majority of our time at the family centre and had a wonderful time getting to
know the fantastic staff and some of the most ansl children I have ever met. We
had varying roles here, although our main role was leading the children’s
devotions for between 15 and 30 minutes every day. During our time we taught
the children about The Fruit of the Spirit. God encouraged us that this was His
plan for our time in a very special way. Before we arrived there had been
another team who had produced a folder detailing the work they had done
including what they had taught. We had hoped to look through this folder
immediately but were only able to 10 days into our stay. During this time we
had decided to teach on the Fruit of the Spirit and started to plan for this.
When we eventually got the folder and looked at their teaching schedule, we saw
that the next topic they suggested was the Fruit of the Spirit! It was such a
wonderful encouragement that God had directed our thoughts. The main language
of Mpophomeni is Zulu and whilst children do learn English at school, the age
range of the children means some can understand more than others. This meant
all of our devotions were completed using a translator. To try to ensure the
children understood our message we used a lot of practical demonstrations
including one devotion I taught with glow sticks! Leading the devotions was a
privilege and God taught us a lot as we prepared for them.

During our time we
also organised a pamper evening for the girls and staff of the centre. We also
did lots of washing up and making sandwiches! Although these were only small
things that we thought were insignificant, God taught us that nothing we do for
Him is wasted. Finally we created a vegetable garden for a lady whose son is at
the family centre, this was enjoyable, but hard work! None of our team had really done any
gardening previously so we’re praying that the seedlings we planted will grow!

During our time we
were also involved in home based care visits. These weekly visits are to
support families in the community who are in need. All the people we visited
were affected in some way by HIV. Every Thursday, we joined a home based care
team to give out food parcels, each family is visited every two weeks with food
and a time of Bible study and prayer. These visits were challenging and
encouraging. There were 3 other ladies in my team all who spoke Zulu so I was
reliant on a small bit of translation to understand what was being spoken of
during the visits. One such visit was when we went to a house and the person we
were supposed to visit wasn’t in; instead there was a man the team had not met
before. Originally the man asked for prayer for his leg which had been injured
in a car accident, so we prayed for that. Then there was a lot of talking in
Zulu with no translation so I was a bit lost. Then I heard one of the ladies
praying and the man repeating the prayer after her but it wasn’t until one of
the ladies prayed in English that I realised the man had just become a
Christian! Most visits were more challenging, seeing and hearing of the
difficulties people are going through. The work of Ethembeni here is essential
as they are able to support the family over a long period of time helping them
physically and supporting them spiritually.

If an individual
or family is visited by Ethembeni they enter a contract, part of which
specifies that they must enter some form of the income generation project.
These projects include making jewellery from paper beads, sewing, growing a
vegetable garden or sorting recycling. This ensures that the family has a
viable source of income which will help them support themselves in the future
when Ethembeni no longer visits.

God taught us so
much during this trip through His word and through the people we met. The staff
at the family centre taught me so much about unconditional love, through other
people I saw the importance of relying on prayer in every situation and the
importance of thankfulness in every situation. God also spoke to our team
through the verse John 15:4 ‘Remain in me, as I also remain in you’ and the
importance of remaining in Him throughout the trip and afterwards. These are
just a few of the things God taught us, there are many more!

I would like to
thank all the people who prayed for me during my trip we had so many answered
prayers which we praise God for.